El Paso-area hospitals evaluate undocumented immigrants

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers wait for new arrivals in the intake area where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Nogales, Ariz. CPB provided media tours Wednesday of two locations in Brownsville, Texas, and Nogales, that have been central to processing the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally since Oct. 1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)

The United States Border Patrol has partnered with seven local hospitals to examine the Central American immigrants before they are transferred to detention centers.

Border Patrol spokesman, Ramiro Cordero, said his agency recently met with community partners and stakeholders from El Paso hospitals to "find the most ideal process of handling any undocumented immigrants flown into El Paso from South Texas."

Citing health information privacy laws, Cordero said he could not disclose the number of patients who have received medical attention at area hospitals.

Cordero added that the current plan does not involve a specific rotation of hospitals. Instead, it means Border Patrol may use the hospitals on agreed upon dates.

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Luis Carlos Lopez

The immigrants who have been seen by local hospitals are families and not unaccompanied minors, Cordero added.

Melissa Offutt, administrative director of communications and marketing for Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare, said the hospital could not comment because Border Patrol has been designated as the center of communications.

Border RAC (Regional Advisory Council), a non-profit organization that acts as liaison between EMS and hospitals, has been helping Border Patrol coordinate with El Paso hospitals when evaluating the health of the immigrants.

The organization's assistant director, Ida Waide-Rascon, said that most of the immigrants who are being transferred to El Paso are first evaluated by the Border Patrol's medical personnel.

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"It's really a small number who require additional care," Waide-Rascon said referring to the number of undocumented immigrants who need to taken to local hospitals.

Margaret Althoff-Olivas, public affairs director for University Medical Center of El Paso, said that 11 detainees, four adults and seven children, have been evaluated at UMC so far.

"None required admission to the hospital," Althoff-Olivas said in an email.

Cordero said the Border Patrol has not been receiving a "bus load of immigrants."

"I would like to make it clear that the recent arrivals of people transferred from South Texas to El Paso have been flown into the city," Cordero said in an email.

"These migrants have been transferred to El Paso based on the number of people who have illegally entered the country in South Texas," he said.

Cordero added that it would be "impossible to speculate" on future arrivals because of several unknown factors. These, Cordero said, include how many people may or may not enter illegally.

"The U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso will continue to support the Rio Grande Valley in processing the migrants as long as the need and capabilities are present," Cordero said in an email.

A Sierra Providence Health Network official confirmed that its hospitals are evaluating undocumented immigrants before they are turned over to immigration officials.

"Sierra Providence Health Network is prepared to provide care when needed. Over the past two weeks our hospitals have cared for approximately 50 patients who were brought in by the U.S Immigration Services. We will continue to work with the U.S. Immigration

Services to provide the care needed," a statement by Sierra Providence said.

The health network operates four local hospitals.

Border Patrol officials said that on June 14, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began making "further arrangements to transport adults with children from the Rio Grande Valley to the Laredo and El Paso Sectors in Texas and San Diego and El Centro Sectors in California."

The movement, Border Patrol officials said, has allowed the U.S. Border Patrol in less congested areas to "assist in processing family units from South Texas where we are seeing an influx of migrants crossing the border."

Cordero said the exact figure of how many planes have landed in El Paso and how many passengers have been transferred here since Border Patrol started to send undocumented immigrants from South Texas to El Paso were not authorized for release.

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